


Not The Kind of Girl (Who Gives Up Just Like That)

by blackorchids



Category: The Office (US)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drabble, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Summer Camp, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24589651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackorchids/pseuds/blackorchids
Summary: Schrute Farms' new summer camp program promises to instill good values into young boys. Cece wants to go too.
Relationships: Cecelia Halpert & Dwight Schrute, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Pam Beesly/Jim Halpert
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Not The Kind of Girl (Who Gives Up Just Like That)

**Author's Note:**

> this is a nothing fic. there is no plot. i promise.
> 
> I just rewatched _Moroccan Christmas_ in season five because I'm looking for a scene that I remember wanting to write about a few months ago, and Dwight singing his little _learn your rules // you better learn your rules_ jingle made me think of this!
> 
> title from _The Tide Is High_ which is sung by Atomic Kitten and is also the Lizzie McGuire theme song

It takes Pam all of three minutes to convince Jim they should sign the kids up for Dwight’s summer camp experience, despite them being younger than Dwights’ campers’ average age. It takes her a little longer to convince Dwight that Cece should be allowed to join as well as Phillip, because Dwight had been planning on having a _boys only_ summer camp, but Dwight has always had a soft spot for Pam and an even bigger soft spot for Cece, and bowed pretty quickly under their combined pressure.

They learn how to feed horses and muck out the stalls and after six days of this, they’re taught how to ride them. Dwight teaches them beginner whittling skills, and cements himself as a superhero in the minds of a dozen nine year olds when Nate cuts himself and Dwight stitches his hand up in the blink of an eye; so fast that Nate hardly has time to gasp in pain.

They learn to churn butter and gorge out on beet coleslaw and beet popsicles and swim in the creek and get horrible peeling sunburns and fall asleep at the end of every day, exhausted and gleeful and totally unaware that Dwight has been tricking them into learning all summer.

At the end of every week, Schrute farms hosts all of the parents for a weekly cookout. Pam always gets emotional, claims that Cece and Phillip look _eons_ older every seven days, brushes Cece’s blonde hair properly and helps Phillip find all of the socks he’s lost over the week.

Jim spends the afternoon heckling Dwight and listening to his kids and Philip ramble about what they’ve done that week, makes sure they know that they’re allowed to come home early if they want to. Somehow, despite his best intentions, he has raised two of the most fearless and independent children he’s ever met, and they always meet his gentle suggestion with protests, insisting they’re _big kids_ and that they want to stay.

Four weeks in, Phillip and Philip accidentally tell Cece about the existence of the Schrute boy rules and Cece storms into Dwight’s bedroom late at night, startling him when she silently leans over him as he sleeps. He wakes to her inches from his face, a little blurry, and yelps, scowling when she giggles, ire momentarily forgotten.

“Uncle Dwight,” Cece says, stern like every six year old big sister knows how to be. He reaches past her to turn on the bedside lamp and she helpfully hands him his glasses before crossing her arms in front of her chest, offended like she’s never been. “Are you teaching the boys stuff that you aren’t teaching me?”

He almost sighs. Cece is an incredible blend of Pam and Jim: mischievous and bossy and charming and stubborn to a fault. Dwight twists and slides out of bed, leading her down the stairs so they can talk over glasses of juice without waking Mose or the children.

To his credit, it doesn’t even occur to Dwight to lie to her. “Yes,” he tells her frankly, watching her mouth pop open in outrage. “As they are boys and you are not.”

“I’m _better_!” She shrills at him. “I’m the fastest, and I climbed the climbing tree the highest out of _anyone_.”

“You are correct,” Dwight agrees, proud of her as he usually is. While Phillip is far more laid back than his sister, Cece has been giving Philip a run for his money all summer, and Dwight is very pleased with how hard she’s been making his own son work. “However, the Shrute men rules have never been shared with a girl. What makes you think this rule should be broken for you?”

“I work hard!” She tells him, serious. “I learn fast.”

“Schrute boys must learn them before they are five,” Dwight counters, speaking to her like she’s an adult, as always. “You are already older than six.”

“I’ll learn quick!” She protests, desperate. “‘Cos I’m older!”

Dwight leaves her hanging for a few seconds, watching her try to stare him down. When she widens her eyes to hide the fact that her lip is trembling, he gives in.

Many years later, she will figure out that there was never any question whether he would or not, but in the moment, she feels like she’s won the big trophy that the bigger kids at her gymnastics’ meet ups compete for.

Dwight does not go easy on her either—makes sure that she still does her chores and keeps up with her other lessons. After dinner, while Mose coaches the boys in Mose-ball, Cece gets put through her paces; learning all forty Schrute Family Rules.

At the end of the summer, Dwight announces to the picnic at large that the lamb they are roasting on a spit had been skinned by Cece. His announcement is barely done when Pam’s voice shrills across the field.

“ _Dwight!!_ ” 

Mose has to take over manning the fire so Pam can yell at him, and Cece tells Jim that she’s the first girl _ever_ to master the Schrute Family rules, and _can we come back next summer, dad?_

**Author's Note:**

> imagine being productive [x](http://www.rosalinesbenvolio.tumblr.com/)


End file.
